When you’ve already built the craziest pony car of all time, where do you go from there? Well, a new report claims that Ford is getting ready to reveal a brand new sports car in January, and we can’t help but get a little bit excited. Partly because any new sports car in this era of automotive uncertainty is welcome, and partly because it sounds like whatever’s coming is being engineered by Ford Racing.
If you’ve been following Formula 1, you probably know that Ford will be the engine supplier for Red Bull and Racing Bulls come 2026, and with next season’s launch coming up in a couple of months, it’ll soon be time to roll out the red carpet. It’s the perfect opportunity for a little surprise, and that’s exactly what a new report from Autocar claims is coming.
Ford Racing is on the cusp of unveiling its first “all-new” sports car since its motorsport and road-car operations were merged.
At its 2026 season launch event on 15 January, it will provide a first glimpse at the new car, described by Ford Racing chief Mark Rushbrook as “a testament to how deeply we’re integrating our racing innovation into the vehicles you drive every day”.
Hang on a second. With the Mustang covering the mass-market sport coupe segment and the Mustang GTD taking things all the way up to Porsche 911 GT3 RS territory, where would a new sports car fit in? There’s a chance it might just go all the way to the tippy-top, which isn’t exactly unprecedented.
The first reborn Ford GT debuted for 2005. The second? A little over a decade later. Given past patterns, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for Ford to reboot the franchise again, although it would have to be in a different form than last time, considering Multimatic has its hands full building the Mustang GTD. While the second-generation Ford GT did secure a GTE-Pro class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it didn’t secure an outright win. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that faster classes of car race at Le Mans, the latest and greatest of which is the Le Mans Hypercar class. As of 2025, only one Le Mans Hypercar has been homologated for road use, the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
If anything, the Mustang GTD has proven that there’s appetite for mega-money Fords, provided they’re crazy and emotive enough. Successfully selling a Mustang for more than $300,000, combined with current resale values of second-generation Ford GTs, suggests there’s headroom for Ford to do something really crazy.
Then again, we might not see a teaser of a new GT in January. After all, automakers have stretched the definition of “all-new” before, and rumors have been flying about several other intriguing projects. At a dealer meeting last year, Ford reportedly showed off a rendering of a Mustang Raptor, an all-American off-road pony car that would conceptually blend the principles behind cars like the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato with a V8 backbeat. Regardless, all eyes will be on the blue oval come January.
Top graphic image: Ford
“Is Ford Building A New GT?”
Even the rumor of such a thing makes me ecstatically happy for wealthy people.
/s. (In case that wasn’t clear.)
This sounds more like the rumored Mustang sedan to me
If it’s a road car it’s probably Red Bull’s RB-whatever it was but a Ford GT.
What a waste of financial resources.
Because we can’t bother with a nice reasonably-priced RWD EV/Hybrid sedan or wagon that hundreds of thousands of people around the world would want to buy – can we?
A 2005 w gt350 engine is my choice. Maybe with a twin clutch because I have a bad knee.
Hell yeah, hope they do
Since it’ll be a tiny engine powering the F1 car, they should use a detuned version in an updated original Mustang, the midengined lightweight one, to compete in the Miata’s market. If they could do that for $35-$40k for a base car, with a manual of course, it would be fantastic.
It would be nice to see a Ford grab the overall on the 60th anniversary of the all-American LeMans win.
Another GT like the first one ($139,000 MSRP in 2005, approximately equal to 3 base Vettes or 1.5 Vipers of the time) would make a very compelling mid-engine competitor to the higher trims of the C8. Something like $180-200K MSRP today.
Another GT like the second one (unobtainable without a ridiculous application process, priced more like 10 base Vettes) would not move the needle for me at all.
As much as I’m a diehard Ford car guy, I agree with you. The ’17 GT was basically unobtainium – you weren’t going to know anyone who has one, or see one on the road, and that just killed it for me.
I’d love it if Ford split the difference here like is has with the Mustang, just in reverse. Build the race spec one, then de- / appropriately-content it for regular sale.
Agreed.
People seem to finally be tracking the 2017 GTs in numbers though. So at least the 2nd generation is getting used, even if it took a while to get there.
I still question my decision to ultimately not get an ’05 in 13-14. Prices were at the absolute bottom. They were as cheap as they’d ever be. However the doors would’ve ultimately influenced where I had to live (space in garage) and although it’s not too hard to have it worked on competently, parts may be an issue in time.
It’s a decision of mine I will always question a bit.
*Yawn*
If they did release a new GT, they would all go to the billionaires who will immediately place them in a heated, hermetically sealed location for eternity*. I’d be more interested if the Probe made a return to fight it out with the GR86 or the Capri returns as a Miata fighter.
*Excepting the one guy who will floor it, lose control, wrap it around a telephone pole, and split it in half.
Pretty much this, tend not to get excited about much of anything in that segment.
Agreed, esp. on the Probe.
And don’t forget the guy who gets one and turns into a youtuber to end up destroying it for clicks.
Well, LMDh’s are technically sportscars for sportcars racing, so I’ll bet Ford will unveil their new LMDh in a Red Bull livery to go along with the Red Bull/Racing Bulls’ 2026 livery launch on January 15th
I was thinking its going to be some sort of mashup with something Red Bull has put out there previously, just repowered as a Ford.